Boca Raton or Pensacola?

Both coasts are excellent, but they feel different. Boca Raton's beaches are pale Atlantic sand in a chain of green, low-rise parks, with Red Reef Park's reef close enough to snorkel straight from the shore and a sea that stays swimmable all year.

Pensacola's beaches are dazzling white quartz along miles of protected Gulf Islands National Seashore, with green water and gentle summer surf, and the calm sound side is ideal for toddlers. The difference is the season: Pensacola is a summer beach, too cold for swimming in winter.

Neither city is a reason to travel for food, but they eat differently. Boca Raton is upscale and suburban: steakhouses, Italian dining rooms and sushi in Mizner Park, plus a strong tradition of Jewish delis and bagel bakeries.

Pensacola is more casual and more regional, built on Gulf oysters, royal red shrimp, grouper sandwiches and Creole-tinged gumbo at waterfront shacks, with a Saturday market and craft breweries downtown.

Pensacola has the deeper story. Spanish, French, British, Confederate and American rule left the restored houses around Plaza Ferdinand and the Seville district, the brick Fort Pickens and, above all, the National Naval Aviation Museum, enough for two or three full days.

Boca Raton is a 1920s creation, and its interest lies in Addison Mizner's Mediterranean Revival stucco and arcades, a decent art museum and the Morikami gardens just north. Serious sightseers there soon head for Miami or Palm Beach.

Pensacola goes out more. Palafox Street and the Seville Quarter fill with pubs, rooftop bars and taprooms at weekends, the island has sand-floored beach bars, and the old state-line roadhouse at Perdido Key is a rowdy fixture.

Boca Raton's evenings mostly end after dinner and a glass of wine in Mizner Park, so anyone wanting more drives to Delray Beach's Atlantic Avenue or to Fort Lauderdale. Neither has much of a club scene.

Both are flat and watery, but Pensacola has more wild ground. The national seashore protects long runs of dunes, salt marsh and maritime forest, dolphins are common in the bay, a sunken aircraft carrier draws divers, and the Blackwater River inland offers canoeing on clear, sandy water.

Boca Raton's outdoors is tidier: mangrove paddling on the Intracoastal, nearshore reef snorkelling, Gulf Stream fishing charters and turtle walks at Gumbo Limbo, with alligators and wading birds at the Loxahatchee refuge half an hour west.

Boca Raton sits in the middle of the Gold Coast, which gives it the better choice. Palm Beach's Flagler Museum and Worth Avenue, Fort Lauderdale's canals and a full day in Miami are all within an hour, and the trains make several of them possible without a car.

Pensacola's best outing is Mobile, an hour west, with its antebellum streets and battleship museum, plus Fairhope and Fort Morgan. Beyond that it is mostly beach towns such as Destin and Seaside, all by car.

Which city works better with children depends mostly on the month. Boca Raton is the easier choice in winter and spring, when the sea is still warm enough to swim. It has lifeguarded beach parks with shade, Red Reef Park's shallow reef for a first snorkel, the sea turtles at Gumbo Limbo and the playgrounds of Sugar Sand Park, all in a safe, orderly town, with Lion Country Safari about an hour away for a bigger day out.

Pensacola comes into its own in summer, with gentle Gulf surf, calm shallow water on the sound side for toddlers and plenty of condos with kitchens and pools. Children who love planes are well served by the aviation museum and the Blue Angels, and Fort Pickens' tunnels make an adventure. Neither city has theme parks close by.

Both cities assume a car, with walkable cores, around Mizner Park in Boca and Palafox Street in Pensacola, and weak buses elsewhere. The difference is the rail line: Tri-Rail and Brightline stop in Boca Raton and make car-free outings to Miami and West Palm Beach realistic, while Pensacola has only a seasonal free trolley along the beach strip.

This is one of Boca Raton's strengths. Its big enclosed mall carries luxury and designer labels that draw shoppers from across the region, and Mizner Park and Royal Palm Place add palm-lined streets of boutiques and galleries, even if independent and local design is thin.

Pensacola has a few independent shops and antiques on Palafox Street, a Saturday craft market and an ordinary mall, which is fine for a browse but not a reason to go.

Pensacola is clearly the cheaper of the two. Rooms in town and inland cost much less than on the beach, casual seafood is fairly priced, and the aviation museum and seashore cost little or nothing.

Boca Raton is one of the wealthiest towns on the Florida coast, and its winter hotel rates match those of major international cities. Summer brings real discounts there, which happens to be the reverse of Pensacola, where rooms are dearest in summer and cheapest in winter.

The two are on a similar regional scale, but Pensacola gathers more under one roof: the restored 1925 Saenger Theatre hosts its symphony, opera, ballet and touring shows. Boca Raton spreads things out, with open-air concerts at the Mizner Park Amphitheater, Broadway-style musicals and conservatory recitals at Lynn University, nearly all in winter, and it relies on the Kravis Center or Miami for major productions.

Boca Raton is the better place to switch off in comfort. Its large resorts have full spas and pools, and day spas and yoga studios serve a health-conscious local population, all set in a quiet, well-kept town.

Pensacola offers hotel day spas and massage studios, and little more. Its restfulness comes from empty winter beaches on the island and Perdido Key rather than from treatments. Neither has any tradition of thermal or public bathing.